Rain Event

Surf: Waist-high at best, dropping to near-flat by the end of the day as gusty offshores increased with the passing of a cold front (which prompted organizers to put the contest on hold for over an hour). Then, once the tent was re-erected… that’s when the rain really started coming down.

Events Held: All the finals: College, {{{Explorer}}}, Airshow, Open.

Nature’s Call: If you think you got it bad for having to surf a heat in a little downpour, consider all those poor suckers running the Boston Marathon today, while that massive winter storm hammers the Northeast. Puts things in perspective a bit, doesn’t it?

Predicted: In the next few years, the NSSA will give into pressure to form a new conference somewhere in the Mid-Atlantic to accommodate the growing numbers of competitors hailing from Virginia and the Carolinas. With a minimum ten-hour drive to and from each event, can you imagine the pocketbook drain on some of these families?

Performer Of The Day: At first glance, it would seem like New Smyrna Beach, FL, prodigy and former National champ Evan Geiselman would take this award — as he met and broke Eric Taylor’s record eight East Coast titles this weekend after topping Jacksonville Beach, FL, neighbor Evan Thompson in Open Juniors and Explorer Boys. But honestly, it would’ve been a surprise had little Geiselman not won at least two divisions, as he’s on another level, and everyone knows it. But fresh off of winning NSSA Southeast-North Conference titles in Open Men’s and Explorer Juniors, number-one seed and current U.S.A. Team member Cody Thompson was undoubtedly the in-form surfer of the event. Unfortunately, computers were down, so no scores were available, but it was suspected that at least two of Cody’s rides in his Explorer Juniors final had to be in the 8.0 range, one particular righthander of which he nailed at least four times, covering a distance of some {{{80}}} yards up the beach (keep in mind it was waist-high and very mushy). Cody held off local comeback story and former NSSA National Team member Josh Wilson’s mature gaffs and Fernandina Beach, FL, flare-up Sean Poynter’s frontside tuberide in Explorer Men’s, too, sitting further north than the rest of the pack to crush the lefts with solid backhand combos, earning him that title, as well.

Heat Of The Day: The Open Men’s final, while going down in the crappiest surf of the four-day event, featured the most diverse cast of Right Coast rippers — Inlet local Blake Jones (who also pocketed the $500 winner-take-all check in the NSSA Airshow final for a frontside alley-oop), Tarheel Fisher Heverly, Vah Beacher Philip Goold, and Jersey grom Rob Kelly. In the end, it was Kelly, who recently returned from a “Kamp KeenzO” training camp in Costa Rica with his mentor Matt Keenan (who actually won the Explorer Men’s National Championship in 2000), evidence of a new, northward shift in NSSA competition. Other non-Floridians taking titles included South Carolina’s Anthony Osment in College Men’s (which helped lead the College of Charleston to the College Team title in their first appearance here). And New York wahine/ Puerto Rican frequenter Quincy Davis not only defended her {{{2006 Explorer}}} Girls title, but backed it up with a convincing win in Open Women’s. Finally, the breakthrough surfer of the contest, South Carolinian Cam Richards, made good on upping his state’s rep with two victories — in Open Boys and Explorer Menehune.

Shockers: While practically every surf forecasting site in existence predicted minimal surf for the duration of this event, somehow NSSA Executive Director Janice Aragon found herself staring at the best Sebastian Inlet setup conceivable on Opening Day — what regulars like Jeremy Saukel even called “the best First Peak I’ve seen in over four years.” The pulse didn’t last, and the waves soon dropped to a less-than-stellar waist-high for the remaining rounds, but who cares? For this one day, the infamous First Peak wedge showed its beautiful, mutated, hollow face — proving the Inlet righthander isn’t dead, it’s just been hiding.

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